Winner of the Dutch Open: Nils Vesk from Sydney!

I´m always happy when hang gliding friends from all over the world visit me in Germany - I am grateful for their hospitality and help when I travel all around the world, and Im very gladly returning what I can to make them feel at home and help them get into the air.
Last week Nils Vesk from Sydney arrived, excited to go hang gliding for the first time in Europe. He had a good training in Mexico at the worlds, and I knew that the friendly, lush landing fields and picturesque mountains of Greifenburg would look very inviting to him ;) Just the weather forecast kind of put a knot into my stomach, but Nils stayed all positive and smiling. I had to work this week, so I just helped him set up my glider and gear to head south.
When Nils saw the crisp new sail of my beautiful Moyes Litespeed 3,5 S, he was happy - Im sure he knew he would have good flights with that machine ;) I told him about some amazing performances I had at German Open and European Championships on that glider. Of course I told him ALL the secrets about Greifenburg flying that I had collected over the years.
On Monday, Nils had his first flight ever in Greifenburg, and in Europe - and he came 2nd of the day, just taking a careful last glide when finishing the task! Only one more day was flyable, and he flew the second furthest distance, and with that, won the Dutch Open overall!
Now I better ask Nils to teach me all HIS winning secrets when we will fly the German Open, starting next Friday also in Greifenburg!!!

Buenos dias, Buenos Aires!

After a cold front with rain yesterday, we arrived in crystal clear cool air in Buenos Aires today. It´s been a while since I was here, and I missed this beautiful city, the jewel of South America!

I wish I was...

... going to Kuala Lumpur now, so I could cheer for my friends who fly at the Red Bull Air Race in Putrajaya this weekend!
Instead I just came back from a few days in Bremen - glorious sunshine there today! - almost getting ready for the briefing to my work flight to Buenos Aires now. At least that is a good trip for training for the German Open that will take place in Greifenburg next week.

Wings for Life Worldrun Darmstadt, Sunday May 4th

It was great to meet a lot of guys at the Wings for Life Worldrun in Darmstadt on Sunday. The night before, they had organized a pasta party and a reading/concert of Samuel Koch, a guy who had suffered an accident on a TV show when he tried to jump over some cars and fell. He has been paraplegic since from the neck down, like our friend Zwecki many years ago. With the world run, Wings for Life collected 3 million Euros for their foundation to support spinal cord research!
Like Matthias Dolderer, Im a pilot, but not exactly a runner, so we were a bit nervous of embarrassing ourselves with poor results in this new formate of a run. We started out on a track, and half an hour later a "catcher car" starts on the same track, disqualifying the runners it will pass. Matthias and I both could not believe that we were able to run 11 km, just like Hannes Arch in Austria and Robby Naish in the US, just like Jonny Durand and Alaina! Jamie got to 16km.
Miriam Gössner, world champion with the relay in biathlon, made 22,7 km - she is fit! Mark Webber ran an awesome 28km!
Mocki went 25km, and her brother Markus won the run in Darmstadt with 57km!
Big congratulations to the world wide winners, Norwegian Elise Molvik who made 54,79km in Stavanger, and Lemawork Ketema (Ethiopia) with incredible 78,58km in Austria!
We gave all we could, running for the ones who can´t, and my muscles are still in pain today. But the real heroes are the guys who never give up hope that they will walk again - I know some of them already fly again!!! Cheers to Mariann Moen, Petra Kreuz, Hannes Kinigadner, Josef Zweckmeyer, Lois Neubauer, Tarek Rasouli, Fernando Fernandes, Samuel Koch, Paulo Barbosa and Tamara Oliveira! You guys rock, and you will walk again!
Im sure we will all be back in Darmstadt on May 3rd for the second Wings for Life Worldrun! Thanks to former triathlon world champion Daniel Unger (race director in Darmstadt) and to the whole crews around the world for the perfect synchronisation and organization, it was a lot of fun to participate in my first "run" ;)

These shoes are made for running...

... and you can follow us on the Wings for Life World Run here! We will start this Sunday at 10am UTC, and I will run in Darmstadt. If you can´t make it to Darmstadt to run with us, you can still participate by donating for the cause of spinal cord research. Thanks for supporting us!

Venice

Im on my way to Venice on a work flight with a short stay in Mestre. Good memories of a trip with a great crowd two years ago come to my mind! If a day is cancelled during a Bassano meeting, it is always nice to go sightseeing in Venice, specially if there is such a great company to travel with! We´ve beaten Guido and his friends to the Piazza di San Marco, as those guys got lost on the way a few times ;) but finally we met there and took a few photos.

Training in Spring Time

My daily training for the Wings for Life World Run takes me through the beautiful colours of European spring. So nice when the sun is out!

Wings for Life World Run May 4th

I go running every day, either outside or on board (when I work) to train for the Wings for Life World Run. It will start at 10 GMT on May 4th in locations all around the world! I will start in Darmstadt, Germany, the city where I studied Graphic Design and where I also started my flying career.
Take off is in Kranichsteiner Str, and I used to live just around the corner - I hope to see many of my friends around on that day, let´s all run together, have a good time and support spinal cord research, so all our friends will be able to walk and fly no matter what!

Malabo, equatorial Guinea, Timezone UTC +1

After the pilots went on strike for three full days, all our schedules changed dramatically. Instead of visiting Gin and his factory in Seoul, I ended up in Malabo. Equatorial Guinea is on the west coast of Africa, and the capital Malabo is on Bioko island. I had to be a bit careful with my photos, as it is forbidden to take pictures of official buildings, and the presidential palace was right next to our crew hotel...
From the cockpit I could see the big volcano in the middle of the island, about 3000m high. The next day, the top of the mountain stayed covered in clouds, as humidity is quite high, but temperatures were pleasant, around 30 C. Guess I was lucky that it didn´t start raining while I was at the beach.
For sure the timing isn´t quite German, but people are happy and friendly, and you can get far with Spanish and French. Except for two fishermen and three other hotel guests, I didnt meet anybody else on the beach. It was a "natural beach", rather dark volcanic sand than the white carribbean feeling, and it wasn´t cleaned. Quite a lot of plastic items were there, but also an incredible variety of almost perfect shells! Jamie, I have to take you here one day, with lots of empty suitcases ;))) much better than anywhere else Ive been to before, because here nobody seems to be interested.
I was aware that Malaria is around, so I checked my room and wore a long sleeve white shirt and sprayed myself with "Anti-Brumm" - so far I seem to be well, seems to have worked alright.

In Orlando with Sherry and Joe

When I arrived in Orlando tonight, I was welcomed by my friends Sherry and Joe Kittinger. It was great to be able to spend some time with them before they are leaving for Washington DC tomorrow.
The capsule and suit of the Stratos project will go on permanent display at the Smithsonian Air and Space museum, where the team will have a celebration. How I would have loved to go there with Sherry and Joe, to meet Felix, his team and some Red Bull friends again! Always great to hear the first hand stories of these legendary aviators!

Hello Mexico!

It was great to browse through the latest adidas collection in Herzogenaurauch at the adidas headquarter yesterday - I was reminded of the great trip to Mexico for the pre worlds, as the colourful patterns seem to portray south american culture - full of life! Perfect that the weather turned spring very early this year, with warm sunshine today :)
Just in time for this weather, my new adidas sunglasses, "Tycane", arrived - co-designed by sailors, these sunnies feature a new wrap around lense that allows an amazing peripheral vision - a vital bonus for every pilot as well! If you want to have a look at this brandnew sunglass development in Mexico, ask Rudy Gotes, he has a pair of these exclusive new "Tycane pro" sunglasses!

The other side of Rio

I don´t know how many times Ive soared above the rock you see in the picture, looking down, catching the thermal rising from the hot air above one of Rio´s biggest slums. This time the weather was not flyable at all, first a strong, turbulent west wind which made launching impossible, the next day just rain.
In the morning, Konrad told me they are flying in Sao Conrado, so I jumped into a taxi with the Captain of my crew who wanted to try a tandem flight, packed my harness, and it took us about 20 minutes to get to Praia do Pepino. Unfortunately, the wind direction had changed already, and it was obvious that we would not fly for a while. At midday, I met a journalist from one of Germany´s biggest newspapers who also wanted to experience hang gliding in Rio. I took the guys up to the ramp at take off and explained the area and the normal launch procedure.
It is a beautiful view and a magical place even if it is not flyable, so we had a good time anyway, went back down to the beach and sat down at Carlinhos´ Cabana for more coconut water. Luizinho had already said hello, Mosquito, Rui and Konrad also stopped to say hi - and "no flying today, come back on Monday!"
Suddenly a Brazilian guy talked to us in German, saying that his father (who had emigrated to Brazil from Germany) had helped to install the Zeppelin connection between Europe and Brazil in the 1930´s. The three of us were listening with open mouths and big, fascinated eyes. Was this guy aware of having met the most appreciative audience in the whole of Brazil for his story about aviation history?
Turned out that he is working as a tour guide in Rio, and when he asked us if we wanted to see Roçinha, we all nodded quietly and got into his car, as he really seemed to know the area well and seemed to know what he was doing. After many years of travelling in Brazil, I finally went through one of the biggest favelas of the country, that I only knew from the air so far! It was impressive to see the density of the 150.000 people nestled on the pass between Sao Conrado and Ipanema.
Sure it is just normal everyday life there, with shops, kids in the streets, intense smells here and there, yet we all had a lot of respect, as there are many stories about crime and drugs. As there was a traffic jam on the road through Roçinha, we had a chance to have a close look at it, before our tour guide invited us for a drink to the German Club of Rio on the other side - what a huge contrast of surrounding, just within barely a kilometer of range. Sure the waiter who works in the club lives next door in Roçinha!
Thanks to Dieter the tour guide, we had a great day even without the flying, but I sure hope that I will be back soon and visit Roçinha from above again!

Pre Worlds Valle de Bravo Awards

Christian Ciech (IT) won the pre worlds by a great margin over Zac (US) and Antoine (FR). I was the 1st woman, just managed to sneak up into top spot on the last but one day, as Françoise did really well over here in the strong conditions.
We were presented with the "Tree of Life", very interesting trophies, looking a bit fragile.
It was a great meeting with loads of flights and kilometers, I think Valle has never seen more hang glider pilots in this spot before! Thanks to the organizers, specially Claudia and Miguel, for turning their vision of organizing the hang gliding worlds into reality - I know it is a huge amount of work behind the scenes!

Pre-Worlds last day: 112km around 5 turnpoints

Yesterday Gerd, I and a few other pilots took the second startgate, cause it looked as if the conditions for our 112km task would be stronger a bit later. Most people went with the first gate and were faster than us, but we still had a very enjoyable flight. Around the 1st turnpoint, the wind got really strong (it was at 3300m of altitude), but luckily I got up again, while quite a few guys were flushed down there.
I was happy to get to goal in Amanalco, probably the biggest, flattest field in the whole area, at 2300m of altitude, but with a good wind to land. 33 people made goal, our whole German team got in, so did all the girls of the comp! A very nice finish, flying with beautiful clouds. Now Im about to go to the awards. You can find the results here, but the cumulative has not been published yet.

Pre-worlds Day 6: 125km around 3 turnpoints

Six consecutive days of flying, mostly over 100km which is quite far for the area and conditions - we have to land by 17.30 or earlier to be retrieved before sunset, like in Turkey. Francoise had to wait a while at a road, and sure enough some cops turned up and asked her (not in a friendly way) what she is doing on the side of the road in the dark. Lucky that they retrieve drivers picked her up soon after!
It was blue yesterday, and as I missed the start gaggle, I was too slow to finish the whole task in time before the end, so I cut off the last turnpoint and landed directly in goal at Piano.
I talked to Zippy about the task setting and he was open for changes. I very much liked the idea to fly over to the high flatlands south of Toluca, and when they announced goal at Rudy's father's airstrip, I was happy as. 125 km around 3 turnpoints, with a difficult crossing after about 45 km. Once we flew to the east, we reached clouds and got up to 4300m, just south of the volcano Nevado de Toluca.
After the 2nd waypoint, I entered the highway to goal - a beautiful cloud street formed right in front of me. Dolphin style flying for 30 km was the reward for all the hard work the days before! The safe height also allowed some sightseeing, cause the area looks spectacular, lots of big cliffs, rugged mountains and little towns.
About 40 pilots made goal today, with Zippy winning the task. We were greeted by the officials from the local town Cuatepec, and everybody got a big serve of fruit salad that was freshly prepared in front of our stunned eyes. What a treat! The Mexicans are really the most hospitable people I've ever mat!
I'm writing this as I'm driving home in Rudy's car. It takes 2,5 hours to get from goal back to Valle, as we have to go around the volcano. Unless you get lost like Jamie, then it can take 4 hours as well.
Tomorrow is the last day, looks like Christian Ciech is still in a comfortable lead over all. I was 2nd woman behind Francoise, but today I might have gone back into lead. Let's see what kind of day we get for the final.

Pre-worlds task 4: 98km around 4 turnpoints

After an overcalled task yesterday, we had a shorter one today. Nice looking clouds paved the highway along the sky today, and despite stronger wind it was a very enjoyable flight across our competition area with goal at the Piano bombout. I got drilled at the „Elefante“ turnpoint and fell behind, trying to get back up. There must have been about 40 pilots in goal already when I finally arrived. My whole team got to goal today, first Gerd (he was 4th of the day!), then Achim and me and Jörg as well.

Paris Williams won the day, he is a legend and well known for racing fast on days where you can fly on your own and without a gaggle.

Task 2 was scored, as the complaint had been turned down.

Unfortunately I dropped my camera when I took off, I hope I can find it tomorrow on take off. Quite a few people saw that I lost something. So no new photos today!

Pre-Worlds Day 2&3: over 100km

Day 2 many pilots arrived at goal, while I had an interesting landing high up at San Simon de Guerrero. All good, but it wasn´t an easy place, high up in the mountains. I was warned for task 3, which also took us into the terrain that just doesn´t offer safe landing options at all.
When I faced the third turnpoint in tiger country yesterday, I got up really high and glided towards it, but as it was shaded by cirrus, I had to fly against a head wind, the terrain was rising and there were no landing fields in sight, I finally stopped the task for me, turned around and just flew to goal directly. Not many people there, maybe 10 who made the whole task, Gerd Dönhuber from our team amongst them. Jörg also flew to goal, but like me, without that dangerous turnpoint.
I hope the set a safer task for us today, would be more fun if the flying doesn´t depend on who has the strongest nerves.

Valle Pre Worlds Day 1: 125km around 4 turnpoints

About 78 pilots started into the first task of the pre worlds yesterday, amongst them 5 women: Kathleen Rigg (GB), Francoise Dieuzede (FR), Sasha Serebrennikova (RU), Claudia Mejia (CO) and me. Jamie and Linda (US) are here, but not competing. Almost the full Italian world champion team is here, and they showed us their skill yesterday – Christian Ciech won the day by an incredible 18 minutes on the 2nd pilot!

Also the French have their top team pilots here, so do the Swiss. Must be about 45 pilots from the top 100 in the world!

The task started at 13.15, as the finish cut off is already at 17.15 to allow for a retrieval in daylight. We flew in blue conditions with the highest base at around 4100m close to the Nevado volcano. Many pilots have trouble adjusting to the height, they don´t sleep all that well, a few got sick. The strong climbs and sinks also create a turbulence that can be quite overwhelming for flatland pilots.

I flew a lot of the course on my own and really enjoyed the nice views. Flying above the Monarch butterflies was amazing! I found a nice thermal just above the millions of butterflies on the mountain. I was stoked to get to goal, even if I didnt have the fastest of times. About 25 pilots were there already, a few came in after me. Gerd and Jörg from my team were in goal, so we did score well for the team results!

Going back to Valle, it was the usual weekend chaos in the village – just too many cars and people everywhere, as Valle de Bravo is a very popular place for a trip away from Mexico city. Clean air, pretty views, nice craft shops.

Today we might go for a goal close to Toluca, up on the high plains. That means we will land at 2500m above sea level, higher than we took off from (2300m)!

No results up yet.

Registration Pre-Worlds, test task and safety briefing

After having registered for the pre worlds, I went for a test flight of about two hours in the afternoon, and the glider is still a beauty, thanks to the careful transport attention of Lufthansa!
Like the others of my team, I chose the airstrip to land, and it looked good, short grass, just maybe a bit narrow. Well, further down I realized that there were high barbed wire fences on both sides of the runway, which didn´t leave many options in case the wind turns around. And of course it did... shooting in with a tailwind at 2200m of altitude... pucker factor ten, and not the most elegant of landings, but my glider and I stayed in one piece at least!
Safety briefing in the evening with a brilliant introduction by Miguel Gutierrez, also thanking Rudy Gotes for helping with a huge amount of organization work.

After two hours of safety introduction, we went to an opening dinner, and they even catered for vegetarians. Due to jetlag, I didn´t stay too long, but I also realized that there is a lot to prepare on the day before the seven day marathon will start!

Arriving in Valle

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Im happy to be in the warm sun of Valle de Bravo – yesterday I set up my glider in Rudy´s garden, and it looks great, so Im looking forward to a nice test flight today! My team already had a good week of training here – Jörg, Christian, Gerd and Achim know the area well now. I have flown a few competitions and had some free flights here, so I am also not new to Valle de Bravo flying. But Ive never flown here with soooo many pilots before. Will be interesting to see how many people will compete altogether today at registration!

Tomorrow we will have a training task, and the serious Pre World competition starts on Saturday, running till March 7th. And knowing Valle, we probably fly every day!
Here you find Jörg´s wonderful photos and the life report in German on the DHV homepage!

On the way to Mexico City, Pre worlds Valle de Bravo

In Frankfurt airport I met a fellow Red Bull athlete, Marcelo Gutierrez from Colombia, a free rider. It is always fun to compare sports and meet new people! He already knows the Red Bull guy who Jonny and I are going to meet in Mexico city tonight, the world is small! Exciting to see Marcelo´s skill in the world cup!
On my way to board the beautiful 747/8 now!

Welcome to Turkmenistan, Timezone GMT +5

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I have „won“ a trip to Ashgabat in Turkmenistan with a stay of 3 days on a work flight. All I remembered was that there are not many choices for vegetarians, specially in winter. My suitcase was packed with healthy goodies, hoping to find a kitchen in our hotel. I was lucky- since this month, we are in a new, luxurious, clean hotel with a fully equipped kitchen in the crew lounge! And when I heard the comments of my colleagues who had gone out for dinner, I was happy that I had raided through „Veganz“, my favourite vegan health food store in Frankfurt Bornheim before my flight.

Also I brought my inline skates, as the weather looked promising. Below zero, but sunny and dry, almost no snow or ice on the roads and boardwalks. And the main aisles of Ashgabat have magnificent boardwalks for skating, almost as smooth as marble! Just don´t turn off to the smaller streets, many trap holes there J

When I tried to skate to the „Tolkutchka market“ which is a bazaar happening on Sundays and Thursdays, I found out that „5km“ can also mean something like 30km or more... I skated about 1,5 hours to get there, and I went really fast except fort he last bit when a strong wind hit me head on. It was worth it though, as I saw a really traditional bazaar with traditional Turkmenish people and their goods. The Turkmenish people I met were really open and helpful despite not speaking English. My little bits of Russian helped a lot, and it was fun to „communicate“.

Many people have almost Mongolian faces, just a bit darker, very pretty to look at. And sure I was the only one who has ever skated through the city for three days in a row, they probably already looked for the skating terrorist ;)

The buildings look new and the fassades are all grand, but I rarely saw any people going into or coming out of these magnificent buildings. There are not many people walking the streets. Lots and lots of fountains are spread through the city, and as the water is heated, they are also running in winter, with people busy hacking the ice away from the edges. Some of the bus stops have airconditioned glass areas, hot in winter and cold in summer.

Average Turkmenish people don´t earn or own a lot, at least heating and electricity is completely free, as the oil and gas funds of the country are enormous. Every second inhabitant of Ashgabat must be a kind of guard, as on Tuesday there were people in uniform every few hundred meters on every major road, whisteling at me if I wanted to cross the road directly, or if I was going „too fast“ in their opinion, some even tried to grab and stop me (but I went around them).

It was an intersting journey and I feel privileged that I was allowed to see a dictatorship where opera and theatre are forbidden, and even trying to bring a Red Bull into the country is a major offence and mentioned in our crew information as a „no go“! After those three days, I was glad I could leave Absurdistan behind and go back to the rest of the world instead.